It seems Canada has all the benefits of the U.S. with few of the weaknesses...

If anyone desires to learn more about Canada, Encarta Online has a fantastic article.

Encarta Online: Canada

 

Monstera-Deliciosa

Nothing wrong with "Hey, Canada sounds cool, I could live there"

But to be fair, this was the statement I responded to:

"I've definitely been mulling over the decision to move to Canada for a while now. It seems less fascist than the US. I'd love to pull an R. Crumb and leave."

You seemed a bit stronger in those statements, wouldn't you agree? Which is why I asked what your reasons were for staying here.

 

Very informative, AT_60!

 

AT-60, you forgot Viking landings in Newfoundland/Labrador on your timeline.

 

AT60 = teh Canadian!

 

That's right. Not just Canadian. I'm teh Canadian

You're right. I did neglect the Viking landings. They landed around 1000 AD and didn't stay long. Not much is known about what they did here.

 

Intresting Fact: The Viking name for North America was Vinland, which means something along the line of "land of wine/grapes." Funny, I've never heard of grapes growing in Newfoundland...

 

Had they stayed longer you all would be speaking something like Islandic.

I thought of a drawback - higher taxes. Though, if you can't live in Canada you can't live in a foreign country.

--Joey

 

Our taxes are indeed higher than American taxes, but not excessively so.

 

That tax thing is changing

I love Canada, but not to the point I would move.

 

They chose 35% which is our largest incremental tax bracket. Is 26% your highest? Or do you have a "flat" tax?

Florida, where I live, luckily has no state income tax.

Between, sales, state, and federal taxes, almost half of your money goes to the government.

--Joey

 

Two words: Strange Brew.

I know it poorly depicts Canadians, but it is a great movie.

GO 'CLONES!

 

Let's talk about health care.

Unless I'm wrong, Canadian health care is cheaper and provided to everyone. In the US, each individual has to pay for his own whether it be through his work or not. Health care is more expensive in the US.

However, you can get things quicker in the US. In one example, I heard that somoene in Canada that I know had to wait 8 months for an MRI. When my dad had his taken he only had to wait 2 weeks.

 

Between, sales, state, and federal taxes, almost half of your money goes to the government.

PPOR. Only about 20% of my money goes to taxes.

Canadian health care is indeed cheaper, but slower. They are looking to fix that though, by giving the provinces more money for health care. The government has a huge surplus, which they are putting to work.

 

Also, I have never paid a cent for "State tax" which you claim we pay. I wonder why that is.

Sorry about the double post. Out of edit time.

 

Hmmm, we sure pay a lot more in the US.

Sales tax is 8.75% alone. State Tax is 3% for my incredibly low income bracket and Fedral Tax was something like 17%. And I don't make much. I did get my federal tax back though so I didn't really pay any last year

But that still leaves me who makes next to nothing with more than 10% tax.

From what I've heard from my boyfriend (who lives in Ontario), Canadians do pay slightly more taxes, but not considerably much so.

EDIT: But don't tell me you don't pay any provincial or municipal state tax!

 

No admiral, I was speaking of us US citizens.

Flaming Sword did you not "pay" taxes meaning "I got money back on April 15th or "I got a full refund!". I had to pay about 5% in federal taxes and what ever FICA raped out of me.

--Joey

 

But don't tell me you don't pay any provincial or municipal state tax!

Provincial, yeah... but "Municipal state tax" is news to me.

We do not may municipal taxes. Well, except property tax. But, that's the only level of government we pay property tax to.

 

I know for my part, Quebec is the most taxed province/state in North America, GST, TVQ, Federal income taxes, Provincial income taxes, not much left on my salary....

But it's a great place to live. And no complain about the French side of it. French is my primary language, no shame in that, I'm proud of that. It's a gift. I can communicate in at least 2 languages, which is more than the majority of people living in both countries, US and Canada.

 

Joey7F, I got a refund for almost all of my federal taxes several months later.

I actually don't pay municipal taxes either (unless you count sales tax). Especially since I don't own property

I'd love to see a comparison of factual data on US and Canadian taxes.

 

Enjoyed the summarized timeline, A_T60!

I'm curious about this line:

1914 - Outbreak of World War I. Canada fights on the side of Britain and France. Some French-speaking Canadians are wary of such a move.

Was there a particular reason that some French-speaking Canadians were wary?

 

Canadian Health Care

So far, much of the new money has gone into wage settlements for health workers. Despite this, Canada still lags behind many other industrialised countries in health-care spending per head (see chart), with fewer doctors, nurses and fancy bits of equipment. The result: doctors are stressed, and patients fed up at having to wait weeks for specialist consultations, high-tech scans or elective surgery such as hip replacements.

Once in the system, however, patients seem satisfied with their treatment. According to the first-ever national survey, published on September 30th, almost 85% of Canadians rated their health services as very good or excellent. On some clinical measures, such as deaths from colorectal cancer, Canada scores far better than bigger spenders such as Germany.

 

Was there a particular reason that some French-speaking Canadians were wary?

French Canadians have no ties to France. They do not feel loyal to France in any way. A lot of them don't even feel loyal to Canada. English Canada, at that time, was loyal to England. The French preferred isolationism. They didn't want Canada becoming involved in a "British war", like the Boer War had been. They really raised a stink when conscription was introduced.

 

They do not feel loyal to France in any way

I think that is not entirely correct, Thrawn60. Remember Bouchard and Parizeau trying to court French (as in France) favour during the last unity hoo-ha? And where does Parizeau live now? I think French-Canadians tend to be loyal to whomever serves their needs. The cold truth for them is that in another 20 years or so they will be the minority in their own province. Game over.

 

One thing to be said about french canadian becoming wary, during the 1800 and early 1900, french workers in the industries were treated like cattle, the bosses were all english, so the resentment began with this fact. So when the drums of war rang in Europe, english canadians embraced it to defend England, so some of the french didn't want to fight for them and be treated as cannon fodders.

As for today, the % not considering themselves canadians is getting lower and lower. What is the need of independence in a world where big conglomerates rule? If you want to become smaller and rot, independence is the way to go. But if you want to stay strong, you've got to stay together. So the PQ is going to lose the next elections, the independent movement is dying (which I am proud of) and all that's left is to sign the Constitution. Perhaps a new one should be voted on to reflect the needs of every province regarding the population, the health care system and such... And yes, it's not only in Quebec where french is losing ground. Everywhere in the world as well. The language of commerce is english.. I think even a monkey could learn it. It all comes back to the isolationism that we're trying to get rid of.